Regional Intergovernmental Organizations in Mediation Efforts

The Mediation Support Network (MSN) is a small, global network of organizations that support mediation in peace negotiations.1 From October 10th to 11th 2012 the MSN met in Accra, Ghana, under the auspices of the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP). In this meeting the network addressed the topic of 'Regional Intergovernmental Organizations (RIGOs) in Mediation Efforts and the Complementary Roles of International Actors'. The following summary reflects the MSN’s discussion and the speakers’ inputs (ECOWAS, UNOWA, EU, UN MSU and the Ghana Peace Council) on this topic. These discussion points do not provide a comprehensive or consensus view of MSN members. Rather, they are a reflection of key issues that were discussed and that may be useful to better understand various mediation actors and ways of improving collaboration between them. In a nutshell, the MSN meeting in Accra underlined the need to see peace mediation as a collective activity, especially involving RIGOs and civil society organizations (CSOs), and not as the exclusive domain of the state. The following points in particular were highlighted...